Reply to comment

To list a parcel of land for sale for the public (including lanbots) to see in the public search directory takes a minimum of 8 mouse clicks and for you to type in an actual number (price) to sell your land for. Throughout this process the screen is very concise about the process. The defaults are set in such a way that you have to specifically input information to sell a parcel of land at an incorrect price. In addition to the words (which in most cases) are translated to the native language of the person, there are visual cues, calculations which show the price/per sq.m of land, and lastly, the final 'prompt' has all of this information together giving you one last chance to cancel the sale before it is listed. The land sales interface borders on cumbersome for anyone selling more than a few parcels. So to make a mistake you really have to be acting quite careless with your assets and I am not sure how Linden Labs could have made it more difficult to make a mistake.

In regards to those (like myself) that operate landbots (the kind that use a modified client to search and purchase land, not the kind that scan the grid for objects set for sale). AFAIK there are 5 people operating bots, The Super Babenco Brothers (mine), Ninjaland (Elanthius Flagstaff), Voomland (Kerry Crabe), Smart Landbarons (Chikaa Masala), and of course Celene Ballinger. All of us with the single exception of Celene Ballinger return mistakes. We even go as far as contacting sellers if we believe it was probably a mistake as often times they are confused or just apathetic towards the situation. 9 times out of 10 the reason for these mistakes is not the interface, its not lag, its simply "We didn't see anyone around so we thought it was safe to transfer to our group". As for better documentation, the thing that amuses me is the BEST documentation for transfering land safely was written by Skye Whitcroft who happens to be the wife of NinjaLand's own Elanthius Flagstaff. (I would add a link to Linden Labs forums that contain the post as a sticky, but it appears the Secondlife website is currently experiencing issues).

During the listing process (setting land for sale) NO Information is sent to servers, it all remains on the client until that final confirmation box is read and "OK" is clicked, at which time a single packet is sent to the server and the parcel is then available for purchase by Anyone. If anything on the parcel changes during this time the packet is simply dropped. So for example it is not possible for 2 people to purchase the same parcel or to sell the parcel twice.

I've heard many things mentioned as possible causes for these mistakes to be made, but in my own personal experience it's simply the person selling the land making an honest mistake. For that I personally don't believe they should be punished. As I previously mentioned lag and latency have no bearing on a parcel being listed for sale incorrectly as the numbers are entered client side there is no communication with the grid until OK is clicked.

Landbots definitely have a competitive advantage -- but really we compete against each other for a very small percentage of overall land purchased and sold. Much of what we pick up is crap land next to ad farms at a price thats below market but not generally even worth whats paid for it. On occasion we do pick up a gem which makes dealing with the mistakes and the garbage worthwhile.

When a parcel comes across at 1L its almost certainly a mistake -- someone was trying to transfer land into a group by selling it to themselves so they can purchase it for group (NOTE: You do NOT need to sell your land to anyone to put it in a group!) I show up to return a mistake THEY made (not me) and I get called a thief. I generally drop them a notecard explaining how to transfer their land, mark the parcel back for sale to them, and wait for them to call me a thief again before I point out that the parcel has already been marked back for sale to them for the exact price I purchased it. I have heard stories of old fashioned land dealers not returning mistakes (Christopher Kidd comes to mind). So in essence - its not the bots, its not the technology - its the people. Both us as landbot operators and those that through 7 clicks of prompting can't take the time to read the screen.

I don't like unscrupulous people, landbots, land sellers, ad farmers or otherwise and I was the third person to sign this particular petition because I don't see it as being directed at all landbots, but really at one individual that is simply not an honorable human being and hides behind a computer screen.

With Regards.